Chad Mendes is about to have a LOT more free time on his hands after being handed a two-year suspension from mixed martial arts competition after testing positive for performance enhancing drugs last month.
The Team Alpha Male fighter, one of the best featherweights on the planet, tested positive for a growth hormone GHRP-6 and the 31-year-old will now not be licensed to compete until May 2018.
Mendes, who has lost his two most recent fights to McGregor and Frankie Edgar, came clean in a Twitter post once the details of his test failure became public and now becomes the latest name to be sanctioned in the ever-growing list of fighters who have failed drug tests in this new United States Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) era.
I didn't do my homework and that was a big mistake. I own it and I'm going to pay for it.
— chad mendes (@chadmendes) June 18, 2016
Mendes is one of the most recognisable featherweight fighters on the planet, having challenged Jose Aldo twice for UFC gold as well as the now historic bout with Conor McGregor one year ago.
The USADA testing of UFC athletes has led to a rake of high profile test failures, with Mendes now joining the likes of Jon Jones, Brock Lesnar, Anderson Silva and numerous others as fighters who've felt the wrath of the drug testing authorities.
Mendes will be 33 years old when he is eligible to return to competition in two years and will leave behind him a gaping hole in the upper echelon of the featherweight division -- which is good news for fighters on the rise like Max Holloway, D0o Ho Choi and Jair Rodriguez now that the Chad Mendes-sized stumbling block has been removed from their paths.
Questions will be asked as to whether Mendes was competing as a clean athlete in his recent fights, including against McGregor last year, but SBG Ireland head coach John Kavanagh thinks he knows the answer.
I think most of his opponents have been on something. Didn't help them.
— Coach Kavanagh (@John_Kavanagh) July 20, 2016
in a heavily skills based sport is it worth the small % gains from cheating v the consequences of being caught? next gen hopefully learn!
— Coach Kavanagh (@John_Kavanagh) July 20, 2016
